Ecommerce specialist passionate about helping business owners grow their online presence with professional websites, compelling copywriting, and UX Design.
” (Instagram) is not going anywhere. Why not join the party?” 🎉 – Jennifer Aniston. If you’re like my friend Jen (yes I know, “in your dreams, girl”) who recently joined the party, then welcome! 😃 🥂 And if you’re like me, an entrepreneur who joined the party to promote her biz, then you need … Read more
Are you on Instagram to promote your brand and would like to find out what does your feed says about you? Discovering your Instagram style will let you know the best strategy to grow and succeed on this platform! 🌟
Maybe you’re someone who likes to build connections with like-minded people, or who educates her audience on her craft, or someone who lets her work shine by itself but prefers to stay behind the scenes.
What’s Your Instagram Style?
Are you curious about knowing what’s your personal style on IG?
Take my 1 minute quiz to find out your Instagram Style and get personalized tips to keep shining and growing on this platform. Have fun! 💃
What was your result?
Are you an influencer, a community gal, or do you promote a beautiful storefront ? I took the quiz and turns out I’m “the educator”, which means I like to teach my audience how to grow their biz online while building a community of like-minded people.
Conclusion
I hope you had fun taking this quiz and discovered your own personal style. I’m sure knowing it will help you decide the best course of action to meet your goals. 💥
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with these helpful tips to grow your brand online:
Thinking about creating a website for your business and wondering what are the benefits of having one? Then you’re in the right place. In this post I’ll tell you 8 reasons why a website is important for your business growthin 2021.
Some Interesting Facts
The fact is, consumers expect companies to have an online presence and will consider a company that doesn’t have one as less professional. And with an effectively designed website, you can showcase your products or services to new and existing clients 24 hrs a day, all year round.
Moreover, with the way people research for local businesses nowadays, having a website where they can find yours is key.
That said, if you want your business to pop up in your dream client’s search queries, then you need a website.
8 Reasons Why a Website is So Important for Your Business
1 Get found online by your dream clients.
A website can get your business in front of new targeted clients. Not only those who follow you on social media, but also the people who are looking solutions to their problems on search engines (like Google, Bing, DuckduckGo).
When properly optimized to appear on search engines (with effective SEO techniques), your website can appear for organic (unpaid) search results.
2 Create new streams of income.
A website can help to create new sources of income likeselling digital products or services, affiliate marketing, donations, and others. And even though hard work is required to set you up for ecommerce, it’s a long term benefit that’s worth the effort.
3 Be accessible to your clients 24/7.
In case of any eventually, a digital home base can help you keep doing business 24hrs a day, all year round. For instance, when social media platforms are down or change their algorithms, your audience can still engage with your brand through your website.
Moreover, with the new reality the COVID-19 lockdown has brought, a website can help you stay on business.
4 Build online credibility.
Imagine you’re a big success on Instagram with your fashion sense or your photography talent, and then you start getting the attention of big brands. Where would you like them to see your portfolio or send to you an email? 🤔
Well, I’m sure you’d like to refer them to a beautiful professional website where they can see who you are, your work, and some testimonials. That’s right, you want them to see your business as an authentic one. A website can help you build credibility.
By publishing content regularly on your website about your knowledge on a topic, you’ll be seen as the leading expert in your niche. Moreover, you can promote that content to other social media channels, right from your website.
Blogging regularly about your craft and sharing your knowledge with your audience, can help you build a connection with them. In other words, by evolving your website into a blog, you can earn your reader’s trust.
By building a website with a consistent look and feel, people will start recognizing your brand’s voice. It can help you to stand out among a sea of competitors.
8 Grow your business while you sleep.
By implementing an Email Marketing System (EMS) on your website, you can build an engaged audience through email subscriptions. But most importantly, you can keep that audience. Say goodbye to social media’s algorithm, you can still engage with your readers.
Where do I get started?
If you’re ready to set up your website, then the next step is deciding to either DIY or to hire someone to help you out. Either way, start by making a careful assessment of your budget, time and willingness to learn.
Having your own website can bring new possibilities for your business’s growth. From reaching your ideal clients, to creating new streams of income. Moreover, a website is essential to keep your business thriving during these challenging times.
Are you looking for a lead magnet that gives value to your customers in a fun way?
Then discover how to create a quiz that grows your email list. In this post I’ll reveal 7 easy steps to build an interactive quiz for your website!
Grab a cup of coffee and let’s get started!
DISCLAIMER: This post includes affiliate links for Interact Quizzes . If you decide to purchase I’ll receive a small commission. The price you pay won’t change.
Why people love quizzes?
People love quizzes because they make them learn new things about themselves. 😍
Think about it, back in the old days when we came across a quiz on a magazine, we immediately jumped in to take it.
Even nowadays you’ve probably seen on Facebook how your friends love to take quizzes. I love them too!
That’s why when Interact invited me to discover their easy-to-use platform to build quizzes, I didn’t think it twice.
With their innovative tool you can easily create beautiful quizzes and link them to your website, blog or social media page.
Discover how to create a quiz that grows your email list in 7 steps.
How to Create a Fun Quiz that Grows Your Email List
STEP 1: Choose a useful topic for your quiz
1. Think of a relevant topic in your niche.
During meetings with my clients, a question they frequently ask me is whether or not start a blog for their business.
Given that this is a topic I can help them with, I decided to create a quiz called “Is Blogging Right for You?”. It will help my clients to find out if they should start a blog.
2. Map your questions and results
To help my respondents know if they have what it takes to become bloggers, I decided to ask preliminary questions to help them find out what type of blogger they’d be.
For this purpose, I chose one of the many Interact templates which served me as a base to ask relevant questions, such as:
“Are you a self starter?, Do you like to read?, Do you like to write?, How comfortable are you with technology?, etc”.
As for the results of my quiz, this template also allowed me to segment my audience into three different types of bloggers: Hobby, Casual and Serious. This is very useful, because the tool automatically identifies the future blogger (the “Serious” type), the leads I should focus my efforts on.
3. Determine of the goal of your quiz
My “Is Blogging Right for You?” quiz would serve a double purpose. On one hand, it would help my readers find a solution to a problem (in this case, find out if they should start a blog).
And on the other, it would help mesegment my audience based on the results they get, grow my email list and generate leads!
STEP 2: Create your interactive quiz
Let’s get now to the thick of it! As mentioned before, I used the Interactplatform to create my quiz.
How To Make A Fun Quiz For Your Website
Choose a template, or build your quiz from scratch.
As I’m approaching this task as an absolute beginner, I decided to use a template to get some inspiration from what’s already been created and save myself tons of time.
Select the industry relevant to your business (Blogging in my case).
In my case I selected Blogging. In addition, you can select multiple industries.
Choose a type of quiz.
I chose to build a Personality Quiz. Alternatively, you can create other types of quizzes such as Assessment and Scored. To learn more visit: How to Create an Interactive Quiz.
Select a relevant quiz template for your topic.
As you can see in the screenshot below, there are plenty of options. However if none of them suits you, you may request a new one.
Customize your quiz:
– Use your brand’s assets (logo, font, colors and images). – Edit the questions and answers. – Connect your email marketing system to your quiz (below you’ll tell you how I did this).
Here’s a screenshot of the Interact’s quiz builder, which is very easy to use.
What are the benefits of using a template for my quiz?
Using a template to create my quiz rather than build it from scratch was really convenient because:
Interact’s templates have been proven and tested, so I didn’t have to worry that my questions, answers or results were too far-fetched.
They provide inspiration to create new questions and answers.
Having a busy schedule, I was able to focus on other aspects of my work.
My quiz’s cover page
And here it is! This is how my “Is Blogging Right For You?” quiz looks like. I’m happy I was able to adapt it to my own brand’s style.
STEP 3: Choose your questions and answers
Selecting relevant questions for my quiz was a breeze thanks to the available templates. Moreover, they’re flexible enough to change the questions to print my brand’s voice.
As for the style of the answers, I decided to give the quiz a fun twist by using text andimage answers. Here’s an example:
Example of text answers.
Example of Image Answers
Additionally, you can use the stock images available on this tool or upload your own.
STEP 4: Set your results
As for the quizresults, the template helped me to divide them into three types of blogging personalities: hobby, casual and serious. For each of them I wrote a helpful recommendation along with a Call-to-Action that takes the respondents to my pillar content. In this case, I’m taking them to content that helps them get started with Blogging.
In other words, this step is your chance to lead your audience to your primary content pillaror your social media. So, get creative and take this step strategically!
STEP 5: Integrate your Email Marketing System
Interact allows you to connect your quiz to several email marketing systems. I connected mine to MailChimp.
From that point, and depending on the results from the quiz, I was able to strategically segment my audience into three categories for which an action would be taken.
Finally, I was able to successfully test the connection between my quiz and MailChimp. This was a fast process.
STEP 6: Implement your quiz on your website
After making sure your quiz works properly, you can publish it and implement it on your website by simply:
As you can see, Interact offers several options to promote your Quiz!
STEP 7: See how it works
And now the moment of truth. Please try it out and see how it works :)!
Create Your First Quiz and Grow Your Email List!
Quizzes are innovative lead magnet tools that attract potential customers faster than traditional tactics. Moreover, they’re still underutilized, which means you can use them to stand out in your industry. When done well, quizzes can help your readers learn new things about them, have an interest in your business and see you as the subject expert.
Try out today Interact to set up a quiz customized to your brand in less than 30 minutes!
If you have some sort of online presence your brand is exposed every day to new audiences, which means there’s an opportunity to make a good first impression among them. In this post I’ll tell you how to establish online credibility for your business, by implementing 7 actions.
How to establish online credibility for your business
1. HAVE A WEBSITE
A website is a permanent place where people can learn about you anytime, anywhere.
When people search on Google to discover new products or services, they will want to learn as much as possible about the company they’ll choose to buy from.
Probably the first place people will find out about you, will be through your Facebook page, which is a good start.
However, having a website that showcases the personality of the company, and your products or services, will give people signals of the authenticity of your business.
In addition, it is strongly recommended to register your own domain name with a .com extension, and getting a SSL Certificate as a seal of trust for your website.
2. BE ACCESSIBLE.
Place your contact info, working hours, social media accounts, and contact form in a visible place across your website. Also, create an “about” page for yourself and/or the team members of your company.
Additionally, have a personalized email address with your own domain name and avoid using free email services.
3. BUILD A CONSISTENT BRAND.
Choose a professional logo and a set of colors and fonts for your brand. Implementing a consistent image for your business will help you build memorability. As a result of this, every time you share a post on your blog or social media, people will start to associate it with your brand.
4. HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE.
Ask yourself where your ideal audience is gathering and focus on using one social platform regularly. Adding social media to your marketing strategy, will allow you to develop a relationship with your audience using a more relaxed tone of voice.
The following quote illustrates the style to use on social:
“For businesses, communication through social media requires to abandon the marketing speech and using a more authentic tone of voice. A company that uses a corporate speech on social media, runs the risk of being perceived as someone who during a social event, talks to her friends as though she was a walking brochure.”
Brunet, Lessard, Ducas – Les Médias Sociaux en Entreprise
5. CREATE USEFUL AND ORIGINAL CONTENT.
Build authority and create trust through a blog.
Writing regularly (or blogging) about your product or service is a great opportunity to build authority in your niche. For instance, you can create content inspired on the questions customers frequently ask about your products or service. As a result, you’ll start establishing yourself as an expert on your industry, and furthermore, gaining your audience’s trust.
Care for your customers whether you’re online or offline.
If someone takes the time to reach you out by email, or on your blog or social media to ask a question, to make a thoughtful comment or giving a review (good or bad), please take immediate action and respond as soon as possible. This will be key to not only create a good impression, but also a good reputation.
7. ASK FOR REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS.
When browsing on Google, people will make a quick scan of the results and will naturally choose those businesses that have the best reputation. Therefore, take care of your customer service (online an offline), so people will be willing to recommend your brand to others. Also, ask satisfied customers to leave a review on your website or social media platform.
CONCLUSION
Taking the actions mentioned above will allow you to make a good first impression online. Moreover, showing authentic care for the people that takes the time to interact with your business online or offline, will build a more valuable asset for your business: credibility.
What other actions do you think can be taken to build online credibility? Share your thoughts on the comment section below.
Thank you for reading!
Please subscribe to my blog to receive online marketing tips by email.
If you’re getting started on Instagram for business and are eager to be found by new eyes, then you need to know how to use hashtags strategically for maximum impact.
But, why is it important to know how to use them? Because hashtags when used well on your posts, will be the number one way to get seen by new eyeballs. 🎯
So, in this post you’ll learn what’s a hashtag, how do hashtags work and how you should use them for best results.
What’s a hashtag?
According to Google, a hashtag is “a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, to identify messages on a specific topic“.
How do hashtags work?
As you probably know, Instagram is a great social media tool to build authenticity for a brand through images and compelling stories.
But how exactly do you get seen by new audiences on Instagram when there are 1 billion users on the app?
Well, here’s where hashtags come handy. 😎
Hashtags are the secret sauce of Instagram marketing, they’re the number one way of reaching a new audience. They work by organizing and categorizing photo and video content. Every created post accompanied by a caption and a few hashtags (up to 30), help in the process of content discovery.
To illustrate this point, I’ll use my case in the next section.
How to use Instagram Hashtags Strategically For Maximum Impact
When I started on Instagram I wanted to get discovered by small business owners looking to build their online presence (my target audience). So that meant I had to choose relevant hashtags in order to attract my ideal follower on this app.
Here’s what I did and what you can do too.
I. Choose broad hashtags that represent your product or service.
In my case, I use popular hashtags like #GrowYourBusiness #SmallBusinessOwners #OnlineEntrepreneur
2. Narrow down to hashtags your clients would use to find you.
For example, I give tips to grow a business online, so I use #GrowYourBusinessOnline #SmallBusinessTips #SmallBusinessAdvice #OnlineMarketingTips
3. Use specific hashtags relevant to your brand
Given that my ideal client is located in Montreal Quebec, I chose hashtags based on my location. I use: #CanadianSmallBusiness #CanadianBloggers #MontrealSmallBusiness
7 Instagram hashtags best practices to implement to get your brand seen
Place your hashtags in bulk below your post description (separated by 5-6 lines). Alternatively you can place them in the comment area.
Avoid using popular hashtags or use them sparely. They have a ridiculously high amount of traffic, making your content disappear instantly. For example: #beautiful, #pretty, #fashion, #happy #instagood #love #me #selfie #tbt
Longer hashtags get more traffic, Ideally between 20-25 characters. However those with over 25 characters perform dramatically less.
Use up to 30 hashtags. If you’re new on Insta, I recommend you use up to 30 (do not exceed the limit though, as this will kill the hashtag). As you start growing your following use 9-15. Statistically, using 15 hashtags per post perform better. Unfortunately, there’s no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to deciding how many hashtags you should use.
Use hashtags relevant to the post, don’t risk your brand’s credibility with misleading ones just to get more likes.
Switch up your hashtags on every post to increase your chances of reaching as many eyeballs as possible. Additionally, this will prevent your account to get seen as spammy by Instagram’s algorithm.
Create your own branded hashtags and share them frequently. For example I created mine for my brand ( #StellaWebStudio . If i’d be running a contest or a giveaway I’d use #StellaWebStudioGiveaway .
Practice makes perfect
It’s your turn to apply the tactics mentioned above! The key is to practice them consistently. When done well, Instagram hashtags will help you reach your dream clients. 🎯
If you want more savvy tips to grow your brand on this platform, I suggest you to:
Getting content to go viral is every online business or digital marketer’s ultimate achievement. Just imagine, having thousands of people re-sharing that awesome video or post you created, within their social network. Basically, setting your content on autopilot.
Well frankly, who wouldn’t want that for their online business?. There have been times when the subject has came up during meetings with my clients, where they’ve mentioned the idea of creating a viral content, to which I politely nod and suggest to discuss further later on.
“Asking for viral content would be like demanding a movie producer to win an Oscar”.
Michelle Blanc, Les Médias Sociaux en Entreprise.
I imagine this is the feeling you get when your content goes viral.
Given that this is a frequently asked question by people who have an online presence, I decided to investigate more about this subject and get some answers. Here’s a summary of the most important aspects to consider.
How to create viral content for your business?
As the phenomenal quote above says in a few words, there is no magical recipe to create viral content. There are however, three basic factors you can work on, to hopefully succeed in this area of online marketing.*
1. Create content that will reflect positively on the sharers within their social network.
“We share because we want to project a certain image of ourselves out to the world,” Emerson Spartz. Photo: Unsplash
Generate in people the need to express themselves through your content, by sharing it within their social network.
Create content that for instance will make people look smart, trendy, funny or positive in social media if they share it. Emerson Spartz, CEO of Dose, a digital media company told Forbes Magazine the following remark:
“People will be more likely to share your content if it will reflect well on them.”
Emerson Spartz
Additionally, he suggests that this content doesn’t necessarily need to be original. You can use existing content -like funny articles, cute animal videos, nostalgic or informative content- as long as it reflects positively on the sharers within their social network.
2. Make sure your content is easy to share in social media.
People’s time is limited, don’t over complicate things for them, asking them to take a bunch of steps to share your content. Additionally, don’t forget to add a call to action to your post or video. For instance, ask people to share it. As obvious as it sounds, a reminder of what to do next, is an absolute must!.
3. Set a strategic plan to launch your content
Be strategic about creating viral content for your business. Photo: Unsplash
A viral post is rarely a spontaneous event. Firstly, you need to carefully set a strategy on how, when and where your content will be launched. In order to do this, you have to coordinate the efforts with your marketing team and even contact the right influencers, bloggers, radio speakers. Additionally, paying ads may also have to be considered.
That being said, most of the operations that have gone viral, took off AFTER being strategically shared through different channels. In other words, you have to have a launch plan and avoid hoping that everything is going to take off all by itself.
CONCLUSION
So let’s recap: create content that will reflect well on sharers within their social network, that is easily shared and set a strategic plan to launch it.
Here is a graphic that sums up the elements mentioned above. Pin it or save it for your reference.
Three aspects to cover if you want your content to go viral.
Do you have content that has gone viral? What actions do you think are needed to succeed in this area of online marketing?
Thank you so much for reading!
Please subscribe to my newsletter to receive online marketing tips by email. And of course, share this post. 😉
SOURCE:
Social Media for Business, (Les Médias Sociaux en Entreprise), Brunet, Lessard, Ducas. Infopresse, 2012
The Secrets of Viral Content and how to create it, Mark Hunkler for Forbes Magazine, 2017
Once you hit the “publish” button for a new post, you have to tell the world about its existence, in other words, promote it on the web. In this post I’ll tell you what to do after publishing a blog post in order to get new readers from search engines, newsletters and social media.
THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS FOCUS ON:
Making your post visible on search engines.
Getting new readers from social media.
Notifying your subscribers of your brand new content by email.
What to do after publishing a blog post?
For each post I publish, I immediately carry out five key activities (divided in two main areas) to promote it online.
Submitting the new post to search engines for indexation in their database.
Telling peopleabout the new post through social media, newsletters and commenting on other blogs related to your niche.
I. SUBMITTING YOUR NEW URL TO SEARCH ENGINES
Firstly, in order to make your post visible as soon as possible, submit your new URL to search engines for indexing in their database. For this purpose, use Google’s Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. These free services will make your post appear in search results, measure your site’s Search traffic and performance, and fix issues. As a result, your post will show up for search queries matching the keywords you optimized your post with.
II. TELLING PEOPLE
Photo by: Rawpixel at Unsplash
2. PROMOTE YOUR NEW POST IN SOCIAL MEDIA.
Start by finding out who is your target audience, where do they gather, which social media platform they use. Depending on your answers, create an strategy for the platform (s) you choose.
3. USE EMAIL MARKETING
A powerful strategy to build a base of readers, is by asking your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter. This way, your subscribers will receive an email from your blog every time you publish a new post. Additionally, if you’re new to blogging, the best solution is MailChimp to start building your email list.
4. COMMENT ON OTHER BLOGS
Visit other blogs relevant to your niche and leave useful comments. As a result, you’ll get their interest and eventually gain new readers.
5. ANSWER TO EVERY COMMENT
Take the time to answer every comment on your post and show you care for your readers.
WHAT TO DO AFTER PROMOTING MY BLOG POST ON THE INTERNET?
At this point you’ve learned how to create an effective blog post and promoted it online, but somehow you’re not getting a lot of traffic. Don’t be discouraged, this is a learning process and there is always room for improvement.
STAY TUNED
In the next post, I’ll give you some tips on how to improve your post performance with the use of insights to increase its visibility.
Thank you for reading and I hope you found this guide useful!
Please leave a comment or subscribe to my newsletter to receive online marketing tips for your brand.
In 2019 more and more people come to the Internet searching for solutions to their problems. Whether these problems are health, family, relationships or work related, people want immediate solutions. This represents an opportunity to show up if you have an expertise!
Creating valuable content and sharing it through a blog, is a really great way to start. However, the key is to create useful content for people, which is properly optimized for search engines.
That being said, I’ll tell you how to create effective blog posts on WordPress with 10 steps that go from choosing a topic to publishing your post.
Step by step process for creating an effective blog post.
Following this process will help your blog post increase its chances of ranking well in search engines. Although there is no guarantee that your post will appear in the 1st place of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), you can still stand out among the competition.
HOW TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE BLOG POST ON WORDPRESS
GENERATE AN IDEA
Firstly, ask yourself what problem will you help your readers to solve, what value you’re creating for them. Take this post for instance, I will help my readers to learn how to create an effective blog post.
DO A KEYWORD RESEARCH
Make a research about the idea or topic you came up with. Then, evaluate the level of competition for that topic and decide a specific keyword. This keyword can be a phrase or a “long-tailed keyword”, something that addresses a specific situation. * This is the time to be as authentic as possible.
Continuing with the example above, I’ll specify it even more “how to create an effective blog post in WordPress.”
START WRITING
After you chose your topic and your keyword, write down your ideas around it. Use a word processor, a mobile application in your cell phone or a home assistant. For example, I use the Evernote app in my phone or my Google home assistant to save my ideas and work on them later.
FORMAT YOUR POST
The key to create a comprehensive blog post is to make your text READABLE. Use short phrases, big large headings and subheadings, and bulleted or numbered lists. TIP: Somehow list posts tend to be more shareable, given that people find them easy to read.
INCLUDE HIGH QUALITY IMAGES
Emphasize your message with gorgeous, high quality images. If you can produce them yourself, the better, but if not, you can use stock free images from sites like Unsplash or Pixabay. Just remember to never use unauthorized images, as this practice would bring you legal consequences.
For photos, I prefer to take my own pictures with my DSLR Canon Digital Camera and my Pixel phone. In addition, I use free stock images from the websites I mentioned in the paragraph above.
For graphics, I recommend the Canva or PicMonkey apps. You’ll find tons of designs, fonts and templates for your brand’s needs.
Finally, mind the size of your images, as you don’t want to bloat up your website and slow it down. *Page speed is another ranking factor.
USE A CALL-TO-ACTION
Invite your readers to take an action within your post such as: sharing it, subscribing to your newsletter, read another article from your blog, leave a comment, follow you on social media, etc.
LINK IT WITHIN YOUR WEBSITE
If somehow your post relates to another post (or several) from your website, link them to it. This is a great opportunity to let your readers navigate better through your website. At the same time, you’ll be making your post available to crawl for search engines. This practice is called Internal linking, which is another ranking factor to consider.
OPTIMIZE YOUR POST
In order to get your post noticed and rank in search results, you need to optimize it. In other words, let search engines know what your post is about.
Make sure your post makes sense and works well. Read it two more times or ask someone else to do so, do a spell check, and make sure every link works. In addition, test it in a mobile device and desktop. Finally, fix the issues that may come up before hitting the publish button.
PUBLISH
Once you are sure your post makes sense, is free of spelling mistakes, and works well in mobile and desktop, you’re ready to go!. Personally, I ask myself if it impresses me, if it does, it’s ready to be published! 🙂
Certainly, this process is not a one day task, however, you can set daily goals to complete each task.
WHAT TO DO AFTER PUBLISHING A BLOG POST?
Right after you hit the “Publish” button, you have to promote your post in order to get as many people as possible to read it, by:
Telling search engines to crawl your web page.
Getting readers from social media.
Notifying subscribers about your new post.
Leaving useful comments in other blogs relevant to your niche.
Create content that brings value to your readers and is properly optimized for search engines. In addition, add your own dash of creativity to the mix to create an authentic blog post.
Let’s keep in touch!
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If you have a website and want it to be seen by new audiences, then performing proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques will help it appear in relevant non-paid results.
Maybe you already have a blog or website that gets a lot of traffic everyday thanks to paid advertising, social media efforts or other online platforms. This is a great start!
However, knowing how to properly optimize your posts or pages, can help them appear in the Search Engines Results Page (SERP) for non-paid results.
Additionally, performing proper optimization requires technical skills that you can do yourself or hire a professional to do so. Whichever solution you choose, it will be a good long term investment.
Let’s take a look at some basic concepts on SEO!
What is SEO and Why You Need it for Your Website?
Photo by: Stella Web Studio
1. WHAT IS SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of optimizing a website to make it appear in a search engine’s (such as Google, Bing or Duckduckgo) organic (non paid) search results.
2. WHY YOU I NEED IT FOR YOUR WEBSITE?
Because while paid advertising, social media or other platforms can bring traffic to your website, the majority of online traffic is driven by search engines.
“In a nutshell, SEO is one of the the only online marketing channels that when set up correctly, can continue to pay dividends over time. Whereas, advertising needs continuous funding to send traffic to your website.” Moz.com
3. HOW GOOGLE DECIDES WHAT PAGES TO SHOW?
Search engines like Google, go around the Internet 24/7 and read (or crawl) every content they find, saving an HTML version of it in their database (called “the index”). From the moment your site is in Google’s index, it can appear in its search results.
In other words, Google reads what it’s available, adds it to its database and sorts it according to the relevance to search queries.
As for the order in which a site appears, Google has an algorithm that decides what pages will be shown. Although this algorithm is a secret, there are some on and off factors that help a site rank in a high position on the Search Results Page (SERP).
Depending on your budget, time, willingness to learn and complexity of your website, you could:
A) Perform SEO basics yourself. There are a lot of online resources to start learning this technique at your own pace. There are free resources like the MOZ blog, that I strongly recommend, and from where I’ve got my knowledge in the topic. For instance visit their “The Begginer’s Guide to SEO” and keep it for your future reference.
B) Hire an SEO professional, consultant or agency. If decide to take this option, I’d recommend you to first make a research on the best options available. Keep in mind that the wrong SEO could actually hurt your website more than it would help.
Essential SEO Reads
Also, you can add to your personal library the following book references:
SEO for Dummies by Peter Kent, which will give you a quick and practical understanding of this technique.
2. The Art of SEO, Mastering Search Engine Optimization by E. Enge, S. Spencer, and J. C. Stricchiola (O’Reilly). This book will give you a solid knowledge on this tehcnique.
Create useful content for humans
Start off by creating high quality content on your blog that responds to people’s questions, and find out how people are asking them. Then perform proper search engine optimization to let search engines know you’re providing the right answers to your audience’s questions.
Create useful content for humans first, and perform proper SEO consequently.
To sum up, whether you decide to learn this technique or to hire a professional to perform SEO on your website, keep in mind that when done well, it will help your brand achieve real goals for your success.
Thank you for reading!
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